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0°^ 

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THE 



BALLOT BOX 




The policy of a nation is determined at the Ballot Box, 
not in the halls of Congress. 






BY 



KING C/GILLETTE, 



'HOR OF THE HUMAN D^IFT." r:o»v,r -- t >5 N 

f 

\ 4S8 4 2 ^At/i ■ 



BROOKL1NE, 

MASS. 



Copyright, 18Q7, by King. C. Gillette. 



THE 

PROGRESSIVE PARTY 

PLATFORM. 

Resolved. — Progress and Humanity both demand the 
enactment of a National Government Em= 

ploy m en t Law, which shall become a per- 
manent and an integral part of the Con- 
stitutional Law of these United States. 

Said law to guarantee to the citizens of 
this Republic the opportunity to sell their 
labor to the government and to insure in 
payment therefor a sum not less than One 
Dollar and Fifty Cents per day of eight 
hours. 

THEREFORE 

Resolved. — That the Progressive Party vnll only 
amalgamate ivith such Party or Parties, 
and only support such candidates for Pres- 
ident, Vice-President and National Repre- 
sentative positions, as will advocate and de- 
mand the enactment of a National Govern^ 
ment Employment Law, ivhich will make 
it obligatory on the p art of the government 
to give employment to all of its citizens who 
may be in need of its bounty or protection, 
and guarantee in payment for such labor a 
sum not less than One Dollar and Fifty 
Cents for eight hours' work and thus in- 
sure the permanent prosperity and happiness 
of our people. 



THE PROGRESSIVE PARTY. 

The Progressive party is the party of the hour and 
has come into existence with a single purpose in view, 
and it hopes to see that purpose accomplished when the 
smoke of battle of our next presidential election has 
cleared away. It is composed of those who are tired 
and discouraged from deferred hope and who have lost 
faith and confidence in parties which are rich in promises 
but slow to cancel their obligations. The patience of 
the people is exhausted ; we now demand those rights 
which the Ballot Box alone can give, the opportunity 
to labor and the right to live. We do not ask for 
charity, we ask, as the majority have a right to ask, for 
the enactment of a radical, revolutionary and evolution- 
ary law which will make it obligatory on the part of the 
government to furnish employment to any of its citizens 
who may, by force of circumstances, be in need of its 
bounty or protection, and to guarantee in payment there- 
fore, a sum not less than one dollar and fifty cents 
per day of eight hours. To this end we appeal to 
every laboring man, every labor organization, and every 
citizen who loves his country and his fellow-men, to 
cast their votes for only such candidates and such party 
as will signify a determination to labor for the enactment 
of a Government Employment Law. 

It is not the purpose of such a law to draw labor from 
the industrial world — it is simply designed to absorb 
the overflow of labor. By so doing it would take away 
the ever present danger to those who are employed, 
and in consequence would raise wages. 

If a Government Employment Law should demand 



THE PROGRESSIVE PARTY 



an amount in excess of one dollar and fifty cents per 
day, the object of the law would be in a measure de- 
feated, as it would result in an unnecessary disturbance 
in the industrial field, for many who are now emploj^ed 
would then leave that employment to work for the 
government. This is not what is desired. We want to 
give work to those who are now idle, and if there are 
industries which pay less than one dollar and fifty cents 
for eight hours' work we want to compel them to raise 
the wages of such employees to one dollar and fifty 
cents or more. 

It should also be understood that one dollar and fifty- 
cents per day, as expressed by the proposed Govern- 
ment Employment Law, does not mean that all who 
would labor for the government would be obliged to 
work for one dollar and fifty cents per day. It means 
that one dollar and fifty cents per day would be the 
lowest price paid for labor by the government. 

The enactment of such a law would bring permanent 
and progressive prosperity to all our people, and to our 
country, and banish forever hard times and the curse of 
poverty. The platform is brief and to the point, and is 
addressed to all citizens without regard to creed, nation- 
ality, party affiliations, or position in the social or in- 
dustrial world. 

Let the light of the Progressive Party shine before 
men, so all may come within the circle of its radiance 
and truth. We will fight for humanity and point out 
the way to a higher and better civilization. 

A government that would stand back of every individual that was 
under its protection and give him employment in time of necessity. 
would he God's own government. 

Vote for a Government Employment Law. 



THE BALLOT BOX 



THE BALLOT BOX. 

TN these United States to-day, we stand face to face 
with a problem which demands and should receive 
the most thoughtful and careful consideration of every 
honest citizen. We should not jump at cou elusions or 
allow self-interest to swerve our judgment from the 
path of duty, that path being the greatest good to the 
greatest number. Let us reason together. 

On the one hand, we have a vast domain, limitless 
and boundless in its productive possibilities, which 
could, under favorable conditions of government, sup- 
port in luxury the population of the world. On the 
other hand, we have a population of only seventy million 
souls ; of these a large majority live from hand to mouth 
and in constant fear and dread of poverty, while mil- 
lions are forced by circumstances over which they have 
no control to remain in idleness and live on the charity 
of others, or starve. 

Why is it in this beautiful country of ours, which 
only needs the magic wand of intelligence to make 
it blossom like a rose and bring happiness and con- 
tentment to all, that millions are compelled to live in 
direst need ; and innocent children and heartbroken 
mothers are obliged to cry out in their distress and 
suffering, from want of the bare necessities of life ? 
Something is wrong, radically wrong, in the policy 
pursued, and in the management of governmental affaiis 
when such things can be. 

Individuals may differ in opinion, but the majority rules. Vote for 
a Government Employment Law. 



THE BALLOT BOX 



This condition of poverty is not of to-day or of yes- 
terday only, but has marched like a devastating plague 
through all the ages of the past. It is a disease of the 
body politic for which no remedy has ever been found. 
Every government, from its inception, has been inocu- 
lated with the virus of poverty, and all the crime and 
ills that follow in its wake, and, like many diseases, it 
runs its course and eventually destroys. 

We search down the long vista of ages for inspiration, 
for some precedent to guide our future actions, but like 
a fleeting mirage we see the rise and fall of government 
after government, civilization after civilization. Not 
one can be found which had within it the element of 
continuous life. With slight variation, they all have 
the same history ; birth in poverty, rise to comparative 
wealth and contentment, then the fatal stage of disease 
when power, wealth, greed, avarice and corruption are 
opposed to the struggling and starving masses. It is 
then that the disease of poverty grows apace. The finale 
is always the same ; internecine war destroys the body 
politic and from its putrid corpse another government 
has its birth. 

No civilization has ever had good times ; poverty and 
misery have always been an ever present curse since 
the beginning of history. Times cannot be good when 
a single human being is allowed to suffer for life's ne- 
cessities, or when the education of a single child is 
neglected. 

This government is fast approaching the last stage 
of disease. Truth, honor and justice are trampled in 



L«et every labor organization in this country unite on a Government 
Employment Law, and the law will be as good as enacted. 



THE BALLOT BOX 



the mire. Greed, avarice and oppression are en- 
throwned in the hearts of tyrants, and the puppets of 
wealth sit in the halls of justice, subservient to the mas- 
ters who have placed them there, and all municipal, 
state, and national legislative bodies are dominated and 
controlled by capital. 

The contention between the powerful few and the 
poverty-stricken many becomes more bitter with each 
passing } T ear. Capital is in the ascendant, and its 
power radiates from the White House and from the 
halls of Congress. In this lies the danger of the near 
future, for the time must surely come when the few 
must give an accounting to the many. Capital is drunk 
with success and power ; it has taken the bit between 
its teeth, and heeds not the yawning abyss which lies 
directly in its pathway. 

As matters are now drifting, every day sees these 
two mighty forces, Capital and Labor, further and fur- 
ther apart. Every day sees new strength added to 
their mutual hatred and distrust of each other; they 
have not the first interest in common ; they are natural 
enemies. Capital has wealth and power, and wants 
more. Labor is a slave to its necessity. To deliberately 
blind ourselves to these facts, or to cowardly brush 
them aside with impatience or without reason, is both 
suicidal and a crime. We must face the problem of 
Capital and Labor and we must solve it, else this 
government, like others, must be destroyed by internal 
disruption, the result of increasing oppression and 
poverty. 

Bribery is not confined to the direct purchase of votes. Bribery is 
any form of influence that has for a basis self-interest when opposed to 
the interest of the people. 



THE BALLOT BOX 



The problem is a plain one. Can we reconcile 
Capital and Labor on a basis of equity that will 
satisfy both ? Yes, we can. 

What is it Capital demands ? Simply the right to ac- 
cumulate and centralize capital and industry without 
limit and without interference. What is it Labor de- 
mands ? Simply the guaranteed opportunity to labor ; 
the means whereby to honestly earn their bread. 

We can give both what they demand by the enact- 
ment of a Government Employment Law. Such a 
law will guarantee work to the laboring man, and to 
Capital it will guarantee immunity from interference 
in the centralization of industry, for the cry of the 
masses against centralization and the consequent nar- 
rowing of the field of labor, under present conditions, 
would be overcome by the enactment of a Government 
Employment Law. 

Go to the Ballot Box : Capital and Labor : both vote 
for a Government Employment Law. If we desire 
to avoid internal conflict and have good times and per- 
manent prosperity, we must take a more radical step 
than the superficial repairing and tinkering of the pres- 
ent political machine, which has been going on at cross 
purposes between Republican and Democratic parties for 
the past twenty years, without any appreciable better- 
ing of the condition of the people. We must make a 
decided departure from present methods, we must inocu- 
late the whole political machine with common sense. 
We must make it impossible for a man to say I can- 
not get work. If we desire to create a demand for the 

Brains were given a man to use. If he does not use thein some one 
else will. 

Use your brains at the Ballot Box. 






THE BALLOT BOX 



products of industry, we must first provide work for the 
people, so they will have money with which to purchase. 

Is it not strange that the wealthy and governing 
class do not see that their prosperity depends entirely 
on the prosperity of the laboring class? 

If the laboring class cannot find employment, or are 
cut down in wages, they cannot purchase the goods 
manufactured by the capitalist. The demand for prod- 
ucts of industry must necessarily fall off in proportion as 1/ 
labor is restricted in any tvay in its power to purchase. 
Cannot the wealthy class see that they must be the 
losers, unless some means is devised whereby those 
who are thrown out of employment can be provided for 
so they can earn money ? 

Under existing conditions, hard times must necessa- 
rily grow harder from year to year ; there may be spurts 
of activity but they will not be permanent or lasting. 
Centralization is an economic law, and economy in pro- 
duction means nothing more or less than that less labor 
is required to produce a given amount of product. This 
means a continual restricting of the field of labor, and 
by this process every branch of business suffers and will 
continue to suffer until the people decide to adopt the 
only recourse — the enactment of a Government Em- 
ployment Law, which will absorb the overflow labor of 
the productive field. 

The laboring people probably comprise four-fifths of 
our adult population. If they are all employed and 
earning good wages (the more the better), there must 
be a large demand for all kinds of products, and this 

When you hear a nian gruinbliug about the injustice of his lot, ask 
him if he uses his brains when he votes. 
Vote for a Government Employment Law. 



io THE BALLOT BOX 

would keep farmers, mills and workshops busy, and all 
branches of industry would prosper. The people would 
have money to spend, and they would spend it. 

To arrive at this point necessitates the enactment of 
a law which will become a part of our constitutional 
government, and which will be a departure from all prece- 
dent ; a law which will not be a reflection of past failures, 
but an inspiration of the present which will separate the 
future from the past for all time ; a law which will de- 
stroy the disease of poverty, and dissipate forever from 
the mind the dread of want, with all its attendant worry 
and anxiety. We desire and demand a law which will 
give to our body politic a soul, which will endow it with 
continuous life and the attributes of justice. 

It is the duty of every father and mother to guide the 
footsteps of their children, and to distribute their love 
and favor equally among them. On this same just prin- 
' ciple, the government, which stands in the relation of 
parent to its numerous subjects, should distribute equal- 
ly its love and favor among those who are dependent on 
^its protection. 

When all else has failed, our government should be a 
refuge to which we all could turn in da} T s of adversity 
I and misfortune, knowing that there we could find em- 
ployment and by honest toil escape the sting of charity 
and the misery of want. 



A law which will abolish poverty must be a good law. 
A law which lessens crime must be a good law. 
A law which benefits all and injures none must be a good law. 
A law which insures prosperity and continuous progress must be a 
good law. 

Demand such a law. Vote for such a law. 
A Government Employment Law. 



THE BALLOT BOX 



Causes of Periodical Depression and 
Hard Times. 

In this country to-day, upwards of two million men 
are out of employment ; not from choice, but from ne- 
cessity. Our cities, towns, villages and farming dis- 
tricts are overcrowded with those who are seeking 
work. Go where you will, East, West, North, or South, 
and you will find this hollow-cheeked and hollow-eyed 
army of woe ; no food except what they beg or steal, 
no clothes that are fit to wear, and no place to lay their 
weary heads except under the vault of heaven, or on a 
bed of charity. It is a mistake to think these people 
unworthy, for most of them are honest and would be 
industrious did opportunity offer. The majority of 
these men are capable of doing laborious work ; many 
are skilled artisans ; and many have wives and children 
dependent on them for support. 

This vast army of men who can find no sale for their 
brawn and muscle is not growing less from year to 
year, but is being swelled to greater proportions by 
constant increase to its ranks. 

The causes which operate to throw these men out of 
employment are the very causes which one would sup- 
pose would accrue to the benefit of the people, and 
which undoubtedly would were our government founded 
on a scientific basis, in accord with progress. These 
causes are : — 

No argument against a Government Employment Law can affect the 
people's power and right to enact such a law if the majority demand 
it at the Ballot Box. 

Vote for a Government Employment L.aw. 



THE BALLOT BOX 



/ 



First : The rapid centralization of all branches of 
industry, which results in a great saving in the use of 
manual labor in producing a given quantity of product. 

Second : The invention of labor-saving devices and 
machines, which not only reduces the amount of labor 
required to produce a given quantity of product, but in 
many instances it takes the place of skilled labor. 

Third: Is the reduction in wages in every branch of 
industry, because of the increasing number who are out 
of work ; those out of work being used as a lever to 
reduce the wages of those employed. 

Fourth ; The decrease in the consumption of materi- 
als in consequence of the reduced wages, and the ina- 
bility of those out of employment to purchase. 

The first cause given, the centralization of production, 
is most potent in results, and other causes are but trib- 
utary to this first cause. None but those who have 
given this subject careful study have any conception of 
the rapidity with which this evolution in methods of 
production and distribution is going forward, or how, 
with each passing year, it compounds in ratio in its 
progress toward a common focus. 

I do not wish to go into figures here, but would refer 
any of my readers to the government statistics to prove 
that there is no one necessary manufacturing business 
in the United States to-day that is divided into as many 
individual plants as it Avas twenty years ago. This not 
only shows that the number of individual plants does 



Charity is a noble virtue, but would it not be better to give the idle 
employment, rather than foster mendicancy and beggary ? Charity 
should be confined to orphans, the aged, the sick, and then it should 
not be called charity, but a Divine right. 

Vote for a Government Employment Law. 



/ 



THE BALLOT BOX 13 

not increase in proportion to increase of population, but 
it shows they are all centralizing, either \>y a process of 
enlargement of established plants instead of increase in 
number of plants, or hy combinations in the form of 
trusts or agreements, or by actual absorption one by y 
another by force of competition. In fact, every sepa- 
rate branch of industry is centralizing, and the time 
must follow when centralized industries will in turn be 
absorbed by one central power. The power that is di- 
recting this evolution is not man, but the natural law 
of economy in production. Individuals are but parts 
of a stupendous whole which is moving forward with 
irresistible force. Legislation in opposition would be 
as ineffective as Avould be a feather in stopping the 
onward flow of the Niagara Rapids ; all that man can 
do is to accept the inevitable and provide for those who 
are but victims of a natural law. 

In this centralization process, competition becomes 
more and more severe as different branches of business 
near a focus. The small capitalist is absorbed or falls 
by the wayside, and it resolves down to a battle of 
giants for final supremacy and control. In this life and 
death struggle, no quarter is given, and every means is 
resorted to to economize in the cost and output of 
product, and all these economies, when followed to their 
source, mean saving of manual labor, and one of the 
most potent factors in this struggle is the lowering of 
the scale of wages paid for labor. So this process not 
only throws numberless people out of employment, but 

u Do unto others as you would have others do unto you." You are 
but a straw in the whirlwind of progress. If you are fortunate, be chari- 
table to others. 

Vote for a Government Employment Law. 



i 4 THE BALLOT BOX 

it reduces the wages of those who remain and thus re- 
stricts the power of the laboring man to purchase. 

The employer is not to blame for these results while 
the battle is on, for he is struggling to live, and to do 
so must meet competition at all hazards. The advantage 
which any centralized power ma)- take of the working 
man in matter of wages, or of the public in demanding 
an exhorbitant price for product which they control, has 
no relation whatever with the operation of the natural 
law which is centralizing production and tends to nar- 
roAv the field of labor. Such unfair advantage is only 
taken, and can only be taken, after the battle is over 
and competition has ceased, and a product is in the con- 
trol of one company. This is a separate matter, and 
can only be regulated by separate legislative action. 

The effects of these economic processes which are 
shown in the vast and rapidly increasing army of un- 
employed is deplorable, but the blame for this should 
not be laid at the door of individuals who are but parts 
of the machine of production and distribution, but at 
the door of our central government which should see 
the necessity and provide for those who are thrown out 
of employment. 

Who could have believed at the beginning of the 
century, that the millions of tiny rivulets of wealth 
were all flowing in obedience to a natural law toward a 
common focus ? Years pass b}% the tiny rivulets have 
met and made many mighty streams. Another period 



In our daily walks we rub shoulder to shoulder with crime, poverty 
and want, — is it any wonder we become hardened to suffering, our 
sympathies become blunted and we look with indifference on the 
misery around us ? 

Go to the Ballot Box. Vote for a Government Employment taw. 



THE BALLOT BOX i $ 

has passed, the streams have met and the torrent of 
wealth sweeps onward, and now at the close of the 
nineteenth century, we look back : the tiny rivulets 
have disappeared ; the mighty streams are being ab- 
sorbed and are rapidly assuming the aspect of an inex- 
haustible and overpowering flood beyond the power of 
man to control, which is sweeping everything before it 
in its onward rush toward final centralization. 

The natural law of gravity in either the mental, phy- 
sical or material world, always chooses the path of least 
friction in arriving at given results, and compounds in 
power and velocity as it draws nearer its objective goal. 
This law is persistent and continuous and cannot be ab- i/ 
rogated by any law of man, and must continue in the 
physical and material world of production, until econ- 
omy in production and distribution is reduced to a sci- 
ence and the point of least friction in producing a given 
amount of product is attained ; that point being a cen- 
tral control. This result cannot be avoided: it is the 
logical sequence of evolution in the world of production. 
The very men who have within their grasp the greatest 
power and the most wealth cannot check centralization. 
The death of one, ten, or ten thousand millionaires would 
not effect the general result. The power that is carry- 
ing forward centralization is separate and apart from 
man ; they are but drifting particles in the onward rush 
of the flood, and some are more fortunate in the piloting 
of their craft than others. This irresistible power is 
Economic Natural Law. 

At the Ballot Box any law which the majority demands can be made 
constitutional. Remember this, and goto the Ballot Box determined 
to be one of a majority who will demand the enactment of a Govern- 
ment Employment Law. 



1 6 THE BALLOT BOX 



_ 



The great danger of the near future lies in the non- 
recognition of this natural law ; without such recogni- 
tion the division of the people into two opposing armies 
of concentrated wealth and concentrated poverty must 
bring this Republic to a destructive climax. 

The wealthy and intelligent representative classes 
should be the ones, who, for their own safety, the 
safet} r of their children, and the safety of the nation, 
should direct legislation in a channel which will make 
provision for those who are deprived of the means of 
earning a livelihood. There is absolutely only one 
remedy. The government must absorb the overflow of 
labor in the productive field, and employ this overflow 
in forwarding public improvements. We must and 
will have a Government Employment Law. We 
demand it. 



Power of the Government. 

It is right that centralization of production and dis- 
tribution should continue, hut unless the government 
makes some provision while the process of centraliza- 
tion is going forward, so the people may be held to- 
gether hj a common bond of interest, history will again 
repeat itself and the disease now gradually separating 
the body politic will have its usual fatal termination. 
The only safeguard is a Government Employment 
Law such as promulgated and advocated by the Pro- 
gressive Party. 

The profits of CAPITAL would be greater under high wages than 
low wages, for there would be an increased demand and a larger con- 
sumption of products of labor. 



THE BALLOT BOX 17 

It may be argued that it is not within the province 
of the government to provide work for those who can- / 
not get work elsewhere. The answer to this is : That 
it is within the province of the government to do the 
will of the people, whatever that w T ill ma}^ be. The 
people are the government, and the majority can abro- 
gate any statute law that may seem to them inimicable 
to the public good, or place any law upon the statute 
books that may seem to them in the interest of human- 
ity. Progress demands continual change in laws to 
meet the requirements of an advancing civilization. A 
Government Employment Law could easily be made 
a fact within four years, were the majority to so deter- 
mine. 

If it is within the province of the government (that 
is the people) to hire a President, a Vice-President, 
Cabinet officers, Senators, Representatives, to carry on a 
postal business, etc., the people (that is the govern- 
ment) can also hire those who are out of work and can- 
not get work elsewhere. It is only carrying out the 
same idea into a necessary channel. To do this, the 
government can project such public works as may be 
sufficient to absorb those in need of its bounty or pro- 
tection. 

Taxation is the means now resorted to by the govern- 
ment to carry on its legislative functions. The same 
method of taxation extended could be made to bring in 
sufficient revenue to meet all the demands of the labor- 



Few people realize the power of a single ballot. It may be the balance 
of power which heralds a turning point in history, it may forge the 
links of slavery, or open the door to freedom. 

Think well before you go to the Ballot Box. 



THE BALLOT BOX 



ing class and give to our countiy vast and needed im- 
provements. 

If the government does not legislate so as to provide 
work for the unemploj-ed, what is going to be done with 
this increasing army of idle people ? No legislative tin- 
kering can keep pace with centralization, which is flying 
as straight as an arrow to a predetermined focus and 
continually changing methods of production and dis- 
tribution, and contracting the field of labor. 

Those who live by labor are a vast majority of our 
population. By labor I do not mean only those who 
wield the pick and shovel, but all those who work with 
either hand or brain, for a stipulated sum by day, week, 
or month, upon which they are dependent for life's ne- 
cessities. This great majority have it in their power, 
at the Ballot Box, to direct the policy of this nation, and 
could, at the next presidential election, sweep every 
State from Maine to California, and from the Gulf of 
Mexico to the British Provinces, on a platform which 
would demand the enactment of a dollar and fifty 
cents per day Government Employment Law. 

Let no other question cloud the horizon. Let it stand 
alone like the beacon which guides the ship safely 
through the narrow channel into the broad and peace- 
ful harbor beyond. 



All labor is a tax upon production, and all 6uch tax is an honest tax, 
for we get its equivalent iu return. The highest form of taxation upon 
the people as a whole is the support in idleness of those who cannot 
get work — here we pay a direct tax and get no equivalent return. Go 
to the Ballot Box. Vote for a Government Employment L,aw. 



THE BALLOT BOX 19 



Government Employment Law. 

A Government Employment Law such as advo- 
cated by the Progressive Party would make it obliga- 
tory on the part of the United States Government to give 
employment to an}' of its citizens upon demand, and pay 
for such labor a sum not less than one dollar and fifty 
cents per day of eight hours. A citizen being under- 
stood to mean and apply to only those male members of 
our community who had arrived at the lawful age to vote. 

Such a law would act as a regulator of wages and of 
the supply of and demand for labor, and in these re- 
gards would be as sensitive as is the barometer in not- 
ing atmospheric changes. 

Under a Government Employment Law those who 
would be thrown out of employment by reason of over- 
production in any branch of the industrial field would 
be immediately absorbed by the government, and any 
increasing demand for labor in any branch of industry 
would draw its supply from those in the government 
employ. 

It can be readily understood that under this law one 
dollar and fifty cents per day of eight hours would be 
the lowest price paid for adult labor, and that all indus- 
trial employers would be compelled to pay this price or 
upwards in order to draw from the government supply. 

Such a law would guarantee to all our citizens the 
opportunity to labor, and raise the wages of every man, 

At the Ballot Box is waged a continuous civil war. To sell your 
conviction is to become a deserter, a renegade. 
Go to the Ballot Box free from shackles. 



20 THE BALLOT BOX 

woman and child who is compelled to work, in every 
branch of industry. 

Such a law would banish poverty from our midst, and 
wipe out disease and millions of crimes of which poverty, 
deprivation and want are the active causes. 

Under such a law, hard times would disappear; pros- 
perity would be assured ; the opportunity for work 
would be guaranteed ; and the people could look with 
favor and equanimity upon the rapid centralization of 
industries, for this law would not in any way retard the 
natural law of economy, which is the power that is forc- 
ing centralization. Competition and struggle for su- 
premacy would continue as of yore, the only difference 
being that the lowest round of the ladder would be one 
dollar and fifty cents per day guaranteed, instead of 
poverty and misery. The government would have 
recognized the cause of hard times and poverty and 
applied the remedy. 

Such a law, while lifting the masses out of the depths 
of poverty, would in exact proportion increase the pros- 
perity and wealth of every plane of society. You can- 
not benefit the poor without benefiting the rich. 

Such a law would clip the claws of t} T rannical em- 
ployers, who take advantage of the necessities of the 
poor, in their competition for employment, to grind them 
down to starvation wages. 

Such a law would take away the depressing load of 
care, anxiety and worry, that weighs down the heart and 



Charity is a virtue. But the self-respecting and honest man does 
not ask for charity. He wants work so he may he independent and look 
the whole world in the face and say, " I earn my bread and my right 
to live." 

Go to the Ballot Box. Demand a Government Employment Law. 



THE BALLOT BOX 



makes cowards of men and woman when they try to 
read their future or the future of their children. 

Such a law would give an impetus to education and 
the advancement of civilization. Every individual 
would be benefited, and our Republic would rise to a 
height of intelligence, power, wealth and prosperity 
such as has never been dreamed of by the most Utopian 
of theorists. 

Such a law would give an impetus to every produc- 
tive industry. Farm products would be in greatly in- 
creased demand. Manufacturing establishments would 
be running full and overtime, and railroads would be 
taxed beyond their capacity to carry and distribute 
the increased product. Stocks, bonds, railroads and 
industrial securities would rapidly appreciate in value 
in consequence of increased earnings and dividends. 
Business of every description would forge ahead with 
perfect confidence in future permanent prosperity. 
Nearly all would find employment in the industrial 
field at more than one dollar and fifty cents per day, and 
the government would find but few who would avail 
themselves of the provisions under the Government 
Employment Law. It would remain a part of con- 
stitutional law as a protector of the individual and a 
regulator of wages, and as such would answer the pur- 
pose for which it was enacted. 

Why should such a law do all this ? For this reason : 
No nation can be permanently progressive and prosper- 
ous and attain great intellectual ability, wealth and 

At the Ballot Box the laboring man has the same power as the mil- 
lionaire. There they can right every wrong. There they can demand 
and receive their birthright of freedom. 

Demand the enactment of a Government Employment Law. 






THE BALLOT BOX 



power, unless the laboring class of that nation, who 
comprise the intelligent working parts of the machinery 
of production, can participate in such advancement and 
such prosperity. If the wealth and advancement of one 
class is attained at the expense of the misery and pov- 
erty of the workers, if one is going up and the other 
going down in the scale of prosperity, there must come 
a time when the climax will be reached ; the burden 
will be more than the poor can bear. 

You must oil the working parts of a machine if } t ou 
want them to wear well and run smooth and without 
friction, and in this particular case, the oil that is 
required is a guaranteed opportunity to labor, with 
good pa}^. This can be permanently assured by a 
Government Employment Law which will guarantee 
one dollar and fifty cents per day of eight hours. 



The Effects of Inability to get Work. 

A man employed and earning money is a supporter 
of industries. Idle, he and his family become a tax 
upon the community. Employed, he is independent 
and self-respecting. Idle, he is'a coward, a mendicant, 
an object of charity and a charge upon others. He 
loses his self-respect. Want and poverty develop his 
animal nature, and he becomes an ever present danger, 
a menace to lav/ and order and possibly a criminal. We 
have millions of such idle people huddled together in 
dark and filthy tenements, where every manner of dis- 

Honesty and justice would raise a nation to the stars ; avarice and 
oppression will drag it through the mire. 

Vote for honesty. Vote for justice. Vote for a Government Employ- 
ment Law. 



THE BALLOT BOX 23 

ease and crime finds a fertile soil. Is it to be marveled 
at that crime is one of the most flourishing industries 
of societ}^? Could it be otherwise? The cause lies in. 
the body politic. The cure lies in the Ballot Box. 
Vote for a Government Employment Law. 

To bring the matter more clearly to the mind of the 
reader, let us imagine a community of one thousand 
men and their families, and say that only nine out of 
every ten men are employed. What is the result? 

The nine hundred men who have work must neces- 
sarily support the one hundred men who are idle, also 
their families, else these one hundred men and their 
families would starve. This is therefore, of necessity, 
a tax upon those who are employed. 

It must follow that the nine hundred men who have 
employment must feel insecure in their positions as 
long as there are one-tenth of their number idle, waiting 
for any opportunity to obtain work. For this reason they 
are slaves ; they have lost their independence, and as a 
result will work for less than they would if labor were 
a scarce commodity and in brisk demand. The idle 
one hundred have the power to bring the whole com- 
munity to a condition of poverty. 

First, because the employer can use those who arb 
idle as a lever to force down the wages of those who 
are employed. 

Second, because idleness fosters in the community a 
spirit of mendicancy and dependence on others, and 
gives a working basis for crime and immorality. 



Under a compulsory Government Employment Law, and a high- 
wage system, the consumption of material would he much greater 
than now, and the profits of capital would he proportionately greater. 



24 THE BALLOT BOX 

Now we will take this same community of one thou- 
sand men and their families, and say the}^ pass a law 
whereby the government is empowered to tax the people 
by levying a tax on articles of consumption sufficient to 
bring in a revenue that will emplo} r all those who are 
in need of work and who cannot find work in the regu- 
lar industrial channels. What is the result? 

The people, instead of supporting one-tenth of their 
number in idleness by charitable taxation, and receiving 
no return for their money, now tax the community as a 
whole by levying a government tax, and with the money 
thus obtained they set these idle people to work on 
public improvements. By this means the ever threat- 
ening danger to the individual and to the community 
has been removed. Now instead of labor seeking 
work and constituting a lever against those employed, 
work is seeking labor. Labor has become a scarce 
commodity. A spirit of independence and freedom 
such as has never been experienced, pervades the whole 
community. They have put a soul into the body politic 
that becomes the protector of the individual. Wages 
take an upward turn, everybody is earning money and 
doing well. They begin to wear better clothes, want 
better food, and can pay for clean and healthful homes. 
To supply these wants creates an increased demand for 
labor, and labor being scarce wages go up. As the 
people become better circumstanced they will tax them- 
selves to give their children better educational oppor- 
tunities, and will build better schools. They will pat- 

During a presidential campaign promises are very elastic. There 
seems to be no limit to their gorgeous extent. Did anyone ever detect 
any honesty in such promises? Don't depend on promises. See that 
the men you vote for are pledged to a Government Employment Law. 



THE BALLOT BOX 25 

ronize art and advance continuously toward a higher 
plane of intelligence and refinement. Poverty would 
disappear, beggars would be unknown, and charity 
would resolve itself to the legitimate care of orphans, 
the sick and disabled, and the aged and infirm. And 
why would this be so ? Simply because the people had 
sense enough to tax the community as a whole, suffi- 
cient to employ the surplus labor of society, thereby 
making them producers and self-supporting instead of 
keeping them in idleness by taxation of those who were 
employed. 

And this is the most simple solution of the problem 
which is to-day demanding the whole attention of our 
people. To enact a law which will guarantee to all the 
opportunity to labor, and which will make one dollar 
and fifty cents per day the lowest plane of society 
instead of poverty. Such a law in five years would 
make this Republic the envy of every nation in the 
world, and the peer of any civilization of history. For 
what is true of a community of one thousand families 
would be also true of a great nation such as ours. 

With millions of able-bodied men and women idle, 
think for a moment, and try to realize what the daily 
and yearly loss must be to the nation. Each and every 
one of these idle people are capable of producing some- 
thing; something equivalent to what they consume, 
and more that would add to their wealth and the wealth 
of the nation. Now, we are not only losing what they 
might produce, but we are taxing the labor of those 

High wages would not mean a proportionate increase in cost of 
products of labor, neither would it mean a falling off in profits of 
capital. Both labor and capital would reap a distinct and permanent 
gain under a Government Employment Law. 



26 THE BALLOT BOX 

who are employed, to keep them from starving while 
they live in forced idleness. 

Imagine all these idle people employed ; all with 
honestly earned dollars in their pockets. Could there 
be such a thing as depression in business ? such a thing 
as hard times ? such a thing as poverty ? No, impossible. 

On the one hand, millions out of work pitted against 
each other and against those who have employment, in 
a mad struggle for work anol for bread. Is it any 
wonder that wages olrop, that men lose courage, and 
crime nourishes? 

On the other hand, a Government Employment 
Law, no one idle who needs or desires employment, 
labor at a premium anol capital bidding for labor. 
Would wages fall, under these conolitions? Would 
there be any motive for the numerous crimes that are 
now committeol because of poverty anol want ? 

Go to the Ballot Box. If we have no precedent to 
go' by for the enactment of a Government Employ= 
ment Law in the history of other governments, it is 
time we took the bull by the horns and make a prece- 
olent for other nations to follow. It is only \>y striking 
out into unexploreol regions that discoveries can be 
made and progress maintained. 

The emplojmient of the men who are now idle 
woulol give the required impetus to production. It 
would put money in the hands of these people to spend, 
anol this woulol immeoliately create a demand. To meet 
this demand woulol necessitate the employment in the 

The man who stoops to hribe his fellow men by material payment 
or by a dishonest expression of opinion that springs from self-in- 
terest, is a criminal of the lowest type, for he robs struggling humanity 
for his own aggrandizement. 



THE BALLOT BOX 27 

mills and workshops of all the women who are now 
idle. This would give these women money, and in the 
purchase of necessities they would again stimulate de- 
mand. To meet this increased demand would require 
more labor in every avenue of trade, and this would 
continue until the employer would be obliged to draw 
from the government supply, which could only be done 
by bidding higher than the government dollar and 
fifty cents per day price which would be established 
by law. 

This scarcity of labor in the market would raise the 
price of labor along the whole line of industries, and 
but a short time would lapse after the law went into 
effect before the government would be obliged to bid 
above one dollar and fifty cents per day for common labor 
in order to complete necessary public improvements. 

Go to the Ballot Box. Demand a national Govern- 
ment Employment Law. There is no precedent to 
guide you. No nation has ever been born that made 
the wise provision of protection of its individual sub- 
jects against the disease of poveiiw, and the crimes and 
misery that follow in its wake. 



Public Improvements, Good Roads, etc., 

etc. 

How will the government employ those who cannot 
get work elsewhere ? The work laid out by the govern- 
ment for this purpose should be widely scattered, the 
same as the people are widely scattered. It should not 

The raising of wages does not raise the cost of products for con- 
sumption in proportion. 

Vote for a Government Employment law. 



/ 



/ 



28 THE BALLOT BOX 

be necessary for a man in one State to go to another to 
find employment. In all of our large cities and towns 
government work should be always open to those out 
of employment, but the improvement of our public 
highways between our large cities and towns, and the 
laying out and construction of new ones, would be the 
work that would be most far reaching and practicable 
in the utilization of surplus labor. 

Good roads are needed all over this country- They 
should connect every city, town and village, and form 
a continuous and direct line between any two points. 
These roads should not be made hurriedly at the expense 
of being done poorly. They should be made firm, 
smooth and durable, and capable of withstanding con- 
tinuous and hard usage, and be in reality a lasting and 
a permanent improvement. This work should not be 
projected from one point, but simultaneously at all large 
centers of population, and be extended out from these 
centers until they became a connected network and the 
whole country was covered. Trees should be planted 
at intervals throughout their entire length, and other 
means resorted to, to make them attractive and beautiful. 

Between large cities and towns so called trunk lines 
of good roads should be fifty feet wide or upwards, while 
no road should be laid out of a less width than twenty- 
five feet. In the forwarding of such a work, which 
would take many years to complete, the laborer could 
find employment in any State, in almost an}^ city or 
town wherever he might be. 

A man who would sell his vote should be banished from the society 
of honest men. He not only robs himself of his birthright, but he robs 
his fellow-men in their struggle for happiness and liberty. 

Vote honestly. Go to the Ballot Box with a clear conscience. 



THE BALLOT BOX 29 

The next question, where is the money to come from 
to pay for this ? This money should be secured by 
direct taxation, to be levied upon those articles of con- / 
sumption which are most universally used, with sufficient 
import duty put on like foreign products to offset this v 
internal tax and protect the laborer, producer, and 
manufacturer. 

The money secured by such internal taxation could 
readily be brought up to a sufficient amount to employ all 
those who are now idle. The public, while being taxed 
on one hand, would be receiving- great public improve- 
ments on the other, and all the idle people would be thus 
absorbed. This would create an increased demand that 
would soon start up all branches of industry. From the 
very day that the Government Employment Law went 
into effect, the doom of poverty and hard times would 
be sealed forever. 

If the government so desired, it could inaugurate a 
toll system on all the government roads, and with the 
rapid increase in use of bicycles, motor carriages, etc., V 
it would be reasonable to suppose that a small tax per , 
mile for all who made use of these highways would soon 
pay for their construction. But direct taxation is the 
most feasible and practicable. By direct taxation we 
can always regulate the amount of income required by 
the government to employ those who cannot find em- 
ployment elsewhere. 

Direct taxation by the government, under a Qovern= 
ment Employment Law, would be a blessing in dis- 



If all those who would be benefited by a Government Employment 
Law would read this pamphlet, it would be read by seventy-five million 
people in the United States. 



3 o THE BALLOT BOX 

guise to both rich and poor, and the higher the tax the 
better off would be the community, provided the money 
so collected was honestly expended in the employment 
of those who are idle, for the money so collected would 
come back like bread cast upon the waters. It would 
maintain an equilibrium in the supply of and demand 
for labor. It would put money in the hands of those 
who are now idle and create an increased demand for 
products of industry. It would raise wages, and above 
all would forever abolish poverty. This government 
would be the first in the world to take this upward step 
in the evolution of man to a higher plane of civili- 
zation. 

We have in the United States a population of about 
seventy-five millions. If each one were taxed on an 
average of two cents per day, it would give us a revenue 
of one million five hundred thousand dollars per day. 
This tax could be raised by taxing a few of the most uni- 
versally consumed articles, and need not be excessive on 
any one article. The result of such a tax would give a 
revenue sufficient to more than absorb the overflow of 
labor from the productive field, and hy bringing about 
a scarcity in the labor market would increase wages at 
least fifty per cent. So, although labor would be taxed 
to employ labor, it would be the gainer by a large ma- 
jority. 

All the money collected would be expended in employ- 
ing men. It would all go into public improvements that 
would be for the benefit of the whole people. It would 
all go into the pockets of laborers, and the} r in turn 

A man can belong to any political party and still beUeve in and work 
for a Government Employment L,aw. 



THE BALLOT BOX 31 

would spend it for such articles of the productive in- 
dustries as they and their families required. No one 
would starve, no one could be in actual need if such a 
law was a part of our Constitution. 

Vote for a Government Employment Law. 

If a million idle men are given employment at one 
dollar and fifty cents per day each, are the benefits 
derived by the people limited to only the expenditure 
of this million and a half dollars by this million men ? 
No — for when they spend this million and a half dol- 
lars they purchase something that requires labor to pro- 
duce. In other words, this million and a half dollars 
will purchase what represents practically one million and 
a half dollars' worth of labor ; therefore, it will employ 
a million and a half dollars' worth of labor on the farm, 
on the ranch, in the workshops, or in other places where 
labor is employed to produce the necessities of life. 
The benefit does not end here, for these people who 
thus find employment on account of increased demand 
made by the purchase of products by the million men, 
in turn get paid for their labor, and in turn become 
purchasers of products of consumption ; and to meet 
this increased demand requires the employment of oth- 
ers, and this continues ad infinitum. 

But just as soon as you begin to throw people out of 
employment, from any cause, the exact contrary effect 
is produced. You immediately begin to curtail the de- 
mand for products. This throws others out of employ- 
ment, and there is a further curtailment to demand, and 

A Government Employment L«aw would greatly increase the circula- 
tion of every newspaper in America, for the people would then have 
more money to purchase papers with. Work for a Government Em- 
ployment Law. 



32 THE BALLOT BOX 

this continues until the mills and factories shut down : 
railroads do not earn dividends ; farmers can find no mar- 
ket for their produce ; prices fall; and the market is glut- 
ted; not really because there is an actual over-production, 
for the people need all these products as much as they 
ever did, but because the people have no money with 
which to purchase the necessities of life. What is the 
remedy for this? There is one, and only one, and that 
is the enactment of a Government Employment Law 
which will always maintain an equilibrium in the labor 
market, and which will always guarantee employment. 

Under such a law there could be no such thing as 
hard times ; no such thing as periods of depression ; no 
such thing as poverty. 

Vote for a Government Employment Law. 




If every person who reads this pamphlet will write for ten copies 
of the BaUot Box and distribute them among his friends, we can edu- 
cate the whole people before the next presidential election, and we 
will have a Government Employment Law, 



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